Flashback: Contra (NES) May 14, 2009, 1:24 AM by ROB Posted in FLASHBACK, GAMING | 1566 views
This is the third episode in the weekly Flashback series, in which we bring you a new old-school favorite with each installment. Last week, we took a look at Apogee Software's Duke Nukem. Got an idea? Catch me on Twitter @RobLaughter!
ZOMGZ. Since I've posted on the Konami Code love on Facebook and ESPN.com, close to 50% of my free time has been spent in front of my 32" LCD TV playing NES ROMs on my laptop. Contra, of course, is responsible for the bulk of my procrastination.
If you haven't played Contra for the NES, you haven't truly lived. The plot is simple: aliens are taking over the world and you need to stop the evil jerk who is responsible for it all. Players fight through hordes of baddies, dodge showers of bullets, and defeat epic bosses after each side-scrolling level. Between levels, players work their way through faux-3D corridors (impressive for its time) to get to the next stage.
The game itself is extremely challenging; players start with three lives and it takes just one bullet to kill your character. Even with two players, the game is downright difficult, so many players (myself included) resorted to the now-sacred Konami Code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start) to start the game with thirty lives. In my recent foray into the game, my friend Kevin and I only managed to get to the third stage before losing all thirty lives. Yeah—we suck.
Contra is near-perfect in graphics, music, and gameplay. When you're ready to play, go buy a vintage NES—there's no other way to play it. If you're hard up on cash (or just lazy), grab an NES emulator and download the ROM. Note: ROMs are copyrighted code; unless you own the original cartridge, downloading a ROM for any other purpose than immediately deleting it is illegal. Don't be naughty.
Since its release in October of last year, the PSP-3000 (also known as the PSP Brite) has been notoriously impossible difficult to hack. With a new PSP model possibly looming on the horizon, the Brite has finally gotten a taste of what it's like to run homebrew; the ChickHEN Homebrew Enabler allows users to run some homebrew applications. Sounds great, right? Let me tell you why you shouldn't bother.
The first challenge in running the hack (which doesn't require any specific UMD game, etc.) is to get it to work. The hack takes advantage of a weakness in TIFF image handling to reboot the device in a state that can handle homebrew apps. By its nature, this is a buggy procedure; sometimes it "hits" and injects the code needed to run the HEN, but nine times in ten it simply crashes the device. I've managed to get it to work just three times out of nearly 100 trials on my Ratchet & Clank edition unit.
Once you do manage to get the device booted into a state that will allow homebrew, you need to have valid homebrew apps. Essentially, this is limited to some (not all) emulators and a handful of genuine homebrew games. No, friends. You cannot load game backups, ISOs, CSOs, or anything of that nature, nor can you install a custom firmware on the device. Further, there are no plans to enable that functionality.
Since the patched software lives in RAM (it's not flashed to the internal storage), the homebrew function only lasts until you hard-reset or power off the device. Want to fire up your emulator afterward? Start running ChickHEN all over again.
Essentially, with this hack, you spend thirty minutes of your time enabling the device to play Metroid. If you're really looking for that sort of outlet, there are dozens of easier ways to play emulated games. While ChickHEN is a wonderful breakthrough in the sense that it "hacks" the "unhackable" motherboard.
Despite claims to the contrary, I predict that there will be an ISO/CSO loader for ChickHEN and that it will develop quickly once the ball gets rolling. Once homebrew was enabled on the Wii, devs swore there would be no backup loader for the system, but lo and behold, I can now run my backups on the device. Will my prediction come true? Let's wait and see.
Flashback: Duke Nukem May 07, 2009, 2:43 AM by ROB Posted in FLASHBACK, GAMING | 303 views
This is the second episode in the weekly Flashback series, in which we bring you a new old-school favorite with each installment. Last week, we took a look at text-based classic Zork. Got an idea? Catch me on Twitter @RobLaughter!
In honor of the rumored shutdown of Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms, I decided to take a look at an old-school favorite of mine: Duke Nukem.
The original Duke Nukem was released in 1991 as a side-scrolling platform game by Apogee Software. Set in the "near future" (1997), the player's goal was to stop madman Dr. Proton from taking over the world. Through three episodes, Duke follows Dr. Proton from Los Angeles, to the moon, and to the future.
Most objects in the gameplay can be interacted with in some way—cameras can be destroyed, powerups can be discovered, and secrets abound.
My absolute favorite part of this game is the wide range of options you have for how you play it. Nearly every level is circular in some way, busting the Super Mario-style linear approach to platformers. If you're just interested in completing the game, you can easily work your way through it by simply grabbing the key to the level and finding the exit. If you're like me, however, you can obsessively scour the levels for any and every powerup you can find, boosting your score and getting some sweet upgrades.
Ready to play? Grab the shareware episode of the game here. Note: if you're using some configurations of Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will need to install a DOS emulator. I recommend DOSBox.
Shacknews reports that 3D Realms, developer of the classic Duke Nukem franchise, has closed its doors. The development studio, which has been working on aptly-named Duke Nukem Forever since 1997, is purportedly shutting down due to financial trouble.
According to recently-resurrected publisher Apogee Software's Twitter feed, the shutdown does not affect the upcoming Duke Nukem Trilogy for the PSP and Nintendo DS. Those titles are scheduled for release in the fall of this year.
There are no "official" reports of the shutdown—only what we know from Apogee and Shacknews' "very reliable source." Who knows—maybe it's a huge publicity stunt for Duke Nukem Forever?
Flaskback: The Zork Trilogy April 29, 2009, 5:33 PM by ROB Posted in FLASHBACK, SOFTWARE, GAMING | 238 views
This is the first in the weekly Flashback series, in which we bring you a new old-school favorite with each installment. Got an idea? Catch me on Twitter @RobLaughter!
I'm what some would call a young'n—I'm 22 years old. I didn't get a computer until I was 14, but when I did get one it came tricked out with a 15-inch CRT monitor, 386 processor, 8MB of RAM, a 120MB hard disk drive, and 3-1/2 and 5-1/4 inch floppy drives. The floppy drives, might I add, were clutch; they made upgrading from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 a snap with the 24-disk installation set. They also, however, let me install the most bad-ass text-based adventure of all time, Zork.
Zork, developed in the late-seventies, was a one of the first interactive fantasy computer games. Totally text-based, players had to remember their positions through the game (or map them out on paper like I tried to do) as they collected objects, battled trolls, and avoided the dreaded grues. The game revolved around finding objects, collecting treasures, and solving puzzles in a vast textual world. Some of the highlights: Flood Control Dam #3, the thief, and—my favorite—the witty easter eggs from the cheeky, taunting narrator. Check out the screenie above for an example I found in a moment of frustration.
I sadly never completed the game (though there are strategy guides and walkthroughs out the wazoo if I were interested in trying.
Get in on the action (and check out a ton of other abandonware games) at sites like XTC Abandonware.
Alex Winston, Ltd. has demoed an app that allows you to control Wolfenstein 3D from a second iPhone through its headphone jack, all without jailbreaking your phone.
The app uses a crossover audio cable to allow communication directly through the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, bringing a virtual joystick and real-time inventory and health updates to the screen on the second phone.
As TUAW points out, while this is certainly cool, it probably won't make waves; the new iPhone SDK includes some pretty rich hooks for peripheral devices in their 1,000 new APIs.
Rumor has it that Apple is planning to start selling premium iPhone games as early as June 2009. According to PocketGamer, only a small number of larger game publishers will be allowed to join in on the initiative.
Currently, "high-end" App Store games sell for around $5.00 to $9.00.
If the rumor is true (and "sources say" it is), then this could be a pretty big thing for Apple, allowing the iPhone to become a viable gaming platform. One issue, however, will be the iPhone's stability—any user will tell you that the device is prone to crashing apps back to the Springboard once its memory gets too full.
Well, rumors also abound about third-gen iPhones coming in June as well. Coincidence? I think not.
WIRED reports that industry analysts and developers are both saying that a third-gen iPhone will "have a strong focus on gaming."
Quote:
Apple made clear its plans to seize the gaming market in November 2008 when Apple marketing executive Greg Joswiak called the iPhone and iPod Touch "the future of gameplay," posing a serious threat to dedicated gaming consoles such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. The reasons? A few things: The quick, electronic distribution method of games and apps via the iPhone's App Store; the accelerometer and multitouch display, which are introducing new approaches to gameplay; and the iPhone's lighter, more portable form factor compared to its rivals.
One can only wonder what the price tag will be! No matter the price, though, I'll probably be taking a hit to the wallet come June.
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